[MacDV] Re: Film Scanners

[Danny Grizzle]

On 12/31/02 12:00 AM, "June Parlett" <jparlett at gte.net> wrote:

> I have gotten CD after CD's that I have filed away, just like
> the slides were filed away. And actually Organization is my main issue.

Everyone underestimates the difficulty of keeping digital images organized.
It is a very, very difficult undertaking. Even with excellent software like
Portfolio, there is a lot of tedious typing: keywords, captions, etc. Then,
you have to deal with media management, because images are frequently stored
offline. Not only that, but normal file management operations -- like using
the Finder or Windows to move files to a new directory or disk -- can
hopelessly corrupt a meticulously constructed image management database.

Five years ago, my only hope for archiving images was CD-R, which is still
an attractive medium with the promise of long life media, perhaps a hundred
years or more. But CD-R ultimately became more than I could manage.

The emergence of high capacity inexpensive hard disks is my new choice: you
can get a LaCie 120GB d2 Firewire mechanism for $269 -- an astounding value.

Image cataloging tools -- Cumulus, Portfolio, iPhoto -- really fall down on
media management. Until there is a simplified way to manage image files,
meaning a backend strategy about what to do once you fill up the hard drive
on a PowerBook, I think digital photography is significantly flawed.

I have a client with a PowerBook and a digital camera, who constantly keeps
his hard disk in a state of suffocation with maybe 100k available on his HD.

Things go from bad to worse when users are forced to move files to free up
space on a disk drive. This breaks the image catalog links, because there is
way the catalog can keep track of file location short of manually
re-establishing links to individual image files.

Maybe what needs to happen is to keep image files invisible on the desktop,
maybe even in locked directories. The catalog software should be far more
intelligent, with dictatorial power over image files. The best candidate for
this would be iPhoto, what I would call "cradle-to-grave" image management.
Cradle because iPhoto retrieves images directly from the digital camera.
Grave, because the program should be enhanced to take over control of image
management and storage, to the point that files are automatically shuttled
to CD-R according to user preference settings about how much disk space to
allow for online image storage, how recently particular images were
accessed, etc.

> I actually loved scanning whole negatives and larger negatives on a
> Heidelberg Linoscan with transparency adapter.

I've got more than a half dozen scanners, various types. My current
favorites are:

  1) Nikon CoolScan for 35mm slide & negative scanning, maximum quality.

  2) Microtek Scanmaker 5, featuring image direct technology. Unlike
     most flatbed scanners which have a transparency adapter in the
     lid, the Microtek (and certain other brands such as Agfa) have a
     film stage built into the body of the scanner. This allows
     negatives & transparencies to be inserted in a glassless
     enlarger-style film carrier, and to be scanned through direct
     transmission light with no glass in the optical path. I use this
     scanner for medium and large format transparencies and negatives.

  3) Canon N1220U/N1240U. These are conventional flatbed scanners, but
     tiny in size, only 1" thick, and nearly cord free, being powered
     via the USB bus, no separate power supply required. These scanners
     will accommodate legal sized papers and bulky items like books,
     yet they are small enough to fit in a laptop computer carrying
     case. I find the Canon scanner to be invaluable when working on
     documentary video productions that involve acquisition of other
     people's images. Nobody wants to loan out photographs -- not
     Aunt Martha who has known me all my life, nor a library or museum.
     Ask for photos, and you will be stonewalled. But for the video
     producer who can scan pictures without taking possession of them,
     the floodgates will open. Aunt Martha would love to spend day
     after day sitting at her kitchen table, hauling out trunkloads
     of old photos. All you need to access these riches is a portable
     Canon scanner, a laptop computer, and maybe a LaCie Pocket Drive.

If I ever buy another scanner, it will be the latest Nikon with a firewire
interface, or perhaps the big Nikon, which will accept up to 4x5 negatives.
For me, the argument for scanning is not found in economies, but in
portability and access to images that I would not otherwise be granted.

Consider one of the little Canon scanners noted in item #3 above (latest
model numbers may vary). For under $1500, you could be set with an Apple
iBook w/combo CD-R drive, plus scanner. Add a LaCie 40GB PocketDrive for
loads of online storage.

I would also consider the new Canon 8000F scanner ($300). The Canon website
doesn't say much about how it accomplishes film & slide scanning, but it
appears to include a negative stage inside the scanner body. Not thin &
compact like the scanners above, but film capability & higher resolution may
be worth the portability penalty. The Canon N1250U2F ($129), apparent
successor to the N1220U & N1240U, is not compatible with Macintosh! Both
these new scanners feature USB2 bus for near Firewire speed data transfers
with appropriately equipped computers. Backwards compatible with standard
USB. All Macintosh scanner users should buy VueScan ($40)
<http://www.hamrick.com/>, which will allow you to use virtually any scanner
(perhaps even the N1250U2F) in either OS 7-9 or OS X.

Danny Grizzle